Sunday, September 25, 2011

NWG 2011 - Game 2 - Beautiful Mourning

So Game 2, Colin Murray, Chaos Space Marines, Capture and Control Dawn of War. Colin had a standard tournament Chaos list, so not the best match for him as I had prefered enemy against 4 of his units and was pill boxed away from Lash, not to mention the Reinforced Aegis.

I got the first turn and deployed my objective in the south-westen ruins, held by a unit of Purifiers in their Razorback with the OXI. Colin deployed his objective opposite mine with a unit of Plague Marines in a Rhino and a Daemon Prince nearby. Colin chose not to seize.

Turn 1

Everything moved onto the board pushing hard west apart from the Land Raider who moved up the centre. Line of sight was obscured across the board by the darkness so the turn ended quickly.

Colin had a similar turn, moving everything onto the board by failing to see any of my army. Two units of Obliterators and the Dreadnought moved on west with the rest of the army coming on mid table, bar the Terminators who were waiting to Deep Strike later. The Daemon Prince who deployed at the start swung east into mid-table.

Turn 2

Most of my army shuffled forward with two of the Razorbacks switching spots. The Land Raider stayed still in order to unload on the Daemon Prince.The western most Dreadnought and Razorback shot at the Chaos Dreadnought and destroyed its Multi-Melta and shook it. The Land Raider opened up on a Daemon Prince and wounded it. The Vindicare tried to wound the same Prince but was stopped by its Invulnerable Save. The Ven Dread managed to Immobolise the eastern Plague Marine Rhino and the other Dreadnought took down an Obliterator.

One of the Termicide units Deep Striked down behind the Grey Knight army, taking out a Dreadnought. The two Daemon Princes flew in behind the ruins in the centre for cover while the Obliterators continued their slow yet purposeful advance. The Chaos Dread ran forward.

The two man Obliterator squad blew up the OXI's Razorback, killing 2 Purifiers, so that the nearest Daemon Prince could Lash them through the wreck of the Dreadnought, though they passed their Dangerous Terrain tests. The Ven Dread also got Immobolised by the remaining Obliterators.

Turn 3

One unit of Purifiers bailed out of their Razorback and dual charged the Terminators along with the OXI's unit. Their Razorback also moved to get into a better firing position. The other Razorback and Dread continued to advance.

The advancing Dread and Razorback shot at the closest Obliterators and managed to take them out. The Vindicare and Ven Dread also teamed up to take out the two man squad. The Land Raider opened up on the wounded Daemon Prince and brought it down to one wound, which the last Razorback managed to take.

In the assault the Purifiers managed to kill 2 Terminators with their Halberds before the Terminators took down 2 of the OXI's Purifiers. The Daemonhamemrs then finished the last one off. The OXI's unit consolidated toward the objective whie the larger unit moved behind the Razorback.

The second unit of Terminators tried to Deep Strike next to the Land Raider but scattered off 7", forcing them to run nearer and into cover rather than waste their one Melta shot at long range. The Plague Marines decided to bail from their Immobolised Rhino and run toward their objective. The Berserkers' Rhino went forward full speed and the Dread advanced further. Chaos shooting didn't do much, only Immobolising the advancing Razorback.

Turn 4

The Land Raider moved toward the Chaos Terminators and the Grey Knight Terminators bailed in order to assault. The large Purifier unit embarked back into their Razorback near the objective and moved to fire. The OXI's unit moved onto the objective and the unit in the now Immobolised disembarked and charged the Chaos Dreadnought after their Psycannons failed to hurt it. The remaining Dread also advanced again.

Despite all efforts, all shooting at the last Daemon Prince was stopped by his Invulnerable Save or cover. In the assaults, the Terminators wiped out the Chaos Terminators with ease however the Purifiers had less luck, unable to damage the Chaos Dreadnought further, losing both Psycannons in return.

The Plague Marines continued their move to and around the objectve. Shooting yielded no casualties however the Daemon Prince did manage to Lash the Terminators into terrain. In the assault the Chaos Dread was Immobolised but took out another Purifier.

Turn 5

At this point I realised that the Purifiers fighting the Chaos Dread were the only unit capable of winning the game for me, so the rest of the army concentrated on either supporting them or playing for the draw should things not work out for them. The Terminators managed to get back in their Land Raider also, just incase they got the turns to cross the board. In the assault phase the Chaos Dread killed the last two Purifiers for now damage in return.

In an effort to claw back points, the Plague Marines moved up and bailed out on front of the Dreadnought, while the Khorne Rhino moved near to the Land Raider. Everything else continued their current course.

The Rhino fired its Combi-Melta at the Land Raider but failed to hit. Elsewhere the Plague Marines blew up the Dreadnought with two Melta shots. With that, the game ended, a 10-10 draw.

Conclusions

It was a good and challenging game though I think I may have won if I started off slightly more aggressively. Still, a draw in the draw mission is not something one can exactly complain about

So now up on 29 points I dropped to table 4 to play Paul Quigley, former Ireland ETC Captain, and his Venom SPAM Dark Eldar.